The short answer is that there's no best way to eat oats. Overnight oats are, by definition, served cold in the morning. Overnight oats are oats that are soaked in a liquid overnight so that the oats can absorb the liquid - no heating up necessary. The liquid can really be anything.
While porridge is cooked in a pot and eaten as a warm porridge, overnight oats are soaked for a few hours (usually overnight), refrigerated and then eaten cold or at room temperature.
Overnight oats offer a range of health benefits, due to their rich fibre and protein content. They also contain a number of vitamins and minerals, some of which include manganese, phosphorus, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc. This makes overnight oats healthy for your gut, as well as for overall health and well-being.
The healthiest way to eat oatmeal is cooked in milk with fresh fruit on top. The milk helps add extra protein and makes the oats creamy. The fruits add a delicious sweetness! You can also use almond milk or your favorite non-dairy milk.
Overnight Oats Have Increased Digestibility
When you soak oats overnight, it's almost like you're cooking them, but the process is much longer and slower, and it's done without heat. This may make them easier to digest compared to oats that have been cooked.
The Bottom Line
Oatmeal's high fiber content and prebiotic qualities may benefit your body in more ways than one. Making oatmeal a regular part of your menu can potentially lower your disease risk, help your gut health thrive, make bowel movements easier and keep you feeling fuller for longer.
Milk is rich in fats, calcium, and Vitamin D that complements the nutrients in oats. Thus oats cooked in milk have benefits over oats cooked in water. Milk has fats, calcium, and Vitamin D that is normally absent in processed oats. Apart from adding a flavour, it also helps in keeping your muscles and bones healthy.
Healthy Ways To Eat Oatmeal
For example, you can season your oatmeal with a touch of maple syrup, along with anti-inflammatory cinnamon or ginger and fresh fruit. Add nuts, seeds, or nut/seed butter for healthy fat and bonus plant protein.
You can eat it grain-bowl style and top it with fresh chopped veggies and hard-boiled eggs, or you can turn it into something soupier like congee, a kind of porridge common in East Asia. Or, you can simply take a plain bowl of oats and doctor it up just before you dig in.
There is no particular time to eat oats. You can consume the oats at lunch and dinner too. This cereal, however, is consumed in breakfast mostly. It contains fiber, magnesium, complex carbohydrates, etc, which help in keeping your tummy full for a longer time, thus, reducing overeating.
Yes, oats can be eaten without cooking.
Adding water or milk to porridge
The key to cooking a creamy, delicious porridge is the correct ratio of milk to water. Too much milk will make your oatmeal porridge stickier and thicker. No milk at all and your porridge will lack that creamy taste. Of course, you don't have to use milk at all if you don't want to.
Porridge is one of the most nutritious foods available. For starters, it's an excellent source of carbohydrates for energy and fibre to aid digestion. In fact, one bowl of porridge provides more fibre than a slice of wholemeal bread — one reason to swap your morning toast for some oats from time to time.
Studies suggest that cooking oatmeal in a microwave may be better than boiling them over a stove. The microwave cooks food faster. Hence, the nutrient loss may be lower due to shortened cooking time than boiling or cooking over a stove.
Banana, grated apple, thin slices of pear and blueberries are some of our favourite fruits to scatter over a warming bowl of porridge. Go all-out tropical by liberally topping your oats with chopped banana, coconut yogurt, coconut shavings, lime juice and a cherry.
Oatmeal is nutritionally rich. It has more protein than most grains and also contains numerous vitamins and minerals. It contains antioxidants and a soluble fiber called beta-glucan, which aids several systems of the body. The beta-glucan soluble fiber promotes regular emptying of the bowel and prevents constipation.
Eating oatmeal first thing in the morning or on an empty stomach has several advantages. First it provides a coating on the lining of the stomach which prevents irritation from your bodies naturally occuring hydrochloric acid (HCL). Oatmeal also contains soluble fiber which aids in digestion and lowers cholesterol.
One of many essential healthy oatmeal tips: Keep portion size in mind. One cup of cooked oatmeal is a healthy serving size, says Jessica Crandall Snyder, RDN, CDCES, the CEO of Vital RD in Centennial, Colorado.
Oats are high in soluble fiber, which is good for digestion, but it may also cause bloating, increased gas, and abdominal cramps for some people. As with other fiber-rich foods, this is more likely to happen if you aren't used to consuming a high-fiber diet.
Look no further than oatmeal, which can offer plenty of benefits when consumed regularly. In fact, experts suggest that enjoying this delicious cereal three times in a day could help to reduce your risk of chronic illnesses like type-2 diabetes and heart disease.
Eating just one and one-half cups of cooked oatmeal a day can lower your cholesterol by 5 to 8%. Oatmeal contains soluble and insoluble fiber – two types that your body needs. Insoluble fiber, which is also found in the skins of many fruits, helps keep us regular.
But the main difference between porridge and oatmeal is that porridge is made with a variety of whole grains, cereal or legumes, and oatmeal is made with oats (either rolled, flattened or ground).
Oatmeal and Banana Combination
Both oatmeal and bananas contain soluble and insoluble fiber, each of which helps you maintain proper bowel health. Soluble fiber also helps lower your cholesterol level, so increasing the amount in your breakfast by adding a banana to your oatmeal is a healthy choice.
Instead of using sugar, boil your water with chopped dates, apricots, or diced apple for sweetness before adding the oats. Stir in spices like cinnamon, cardamom, turmeric, nutmeg, or even Ras al Hanout.